secondary data, one out of two women were murdered by somebody they know, when you shut down the markets it goes down by 40%. so i have to deal every single night. tomorrow i'm going to have a tough day talking to people who have been victims of gun violence, families who see gun violence. every single night i go to bed, every single morning i wake up, having to face the reality of gun violence by the criminals of america. let's do what we agree on, shut that down, begin to make our cities safer in america. >> sandy relief, where are we now on it and what do you need? >> i have been having people text me all night from congress. i've been talking to and lobbying a lot of people down there. it is just very, very frustrating when i'm seeing what happens in the house. why is it other places that had

natural disasters, the country united. and new jersey, which by the way sends much more money to the federal government than it gets back, we just want them to be pow, right in the kisser. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. yesterday a day of infamy for the republican party. general colin powell told the vivid, nasty truth. he blasted his party, especially its leaders, for engaging in flagrant race-baiting. many of his points have been made on "hardball." the racist language about the president of the united states

shucking and jiving, about him being lazy, the unending background assault of the birthers saying the president is not legitimate, not even an authentic american. again, the general did what i and others have been pounding for months, this multistate republican plan to shrink black electoral strength by slamming down on the chance to vote. what colin powell said yesterday is going right to the heart of the republican intolerance made more powerful by the fact that the indictment has now been made by this country's most celebrated african-american republican. eugene robinson is a pulitzer prize winning columnist for "the washington post" and an msnbc contributor. alex wagner is the host of "now," the celebrated program with her noontime greatness coming at us every day of the week. let's listen to general powell

-- i always have to have a lighter note because this is tough stuff. here is general powell on "meet the press" yesterday. >> there's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party. what do i mean by that? what i mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities. how can i evidence that? when i see a former governor say that the president is shucking and jiving, that's a racial era slave term. when i see another former governor after the president's first debate where he didn't do very well says that the president was lazy. he didn't say he was slow, he was tired, he didn't do well. he said he was lazy. now, it may not mean anything to most americans. but to those of us who are african-americans, the second word is shiftless and a third word that goes with it. birther, the whole birth movement, why do senior republican leaders tolerate this kind of discussion within the party? >> the great thing about colin powell besides being a great man, he has a great sense of history. >> he does have a sense of history. you know, the thing was he went there. david didn't take him there. he volunteered to go there, to call out the republican party as the senior african-american figure in the republican party,

call them out on this coded racial language, this not so coded racial language. it was kind of a shot across the bow i think and kind of planted a flag for moderate republicans to say, hey, you know, he's right. we really do need to reshape the party and reshape its message if we hope to survive. >> i think it's very important what you pointed out, that he brought this up. david asked him other things, important things, but i think he made it. will he lead on this? can he lead? does he have the traction with the party to move people like christie to speak out, the more moderate forces in the party? >> he provides a certain amount of cover, i think, for others. now, he hasn't been a sort of inside baseball political figure, you know. he's not the kind of guy who is then going to pick up the phone and make 50 phone calls to people saying back me up here. but it was so public and so

purposeful that i think it's a moment that will be remembered when colin powell kind of called the party out -- >> so well said. >> and it's something that people are going to have to answer for. >> i called it a day of infamy, alex. here is my point. it bugs me as a white guy, to be blunt about it, i think it's an embarrassment to white people as well as a travesty in our country generally that people engage in this crap at this point in our history. when we do have an african-american president, we ought to be proud of the damn fact instead of going in the other direction. what i can't believe is the people i talk to say what are you talking about, matthews? we're not engaging in race-baiting. you're hearing something here. and that's what really bugs me about people that don't want to hear for some sick reason, don't want to hear what's going on here, and thank god colin powell finally came out and called out

these guys like reince priebus, the head of the party. he didn't call him by name. he was a gentleman, although i don't know why he was. i would have called out sarah palin. i'd have called out sununu. these are names of people that use that rotten language. >> and the list goes on, right, chris? rand paul -- >> donald trump. >> rand paul doesn't support the voting rights act. haley barbour, who is a de facto leader of the republican party, has voiced support for white citizens councils. i mean, you're talking about a litany of -- these aren't even dog whistles at this point. this is incredibly racially loaded language, and after sarah palin made the shucking and jiving comments, she doubled down on them. i guess the question is, is this a moment for the republican party? is this an inflection point? do they say, hey, we lost the black vote by 93%. we're losing hispanics by 73%. we're losing asian-americans by 71%. do they learn these lessons? is there any -- >> unless it is let's suppress that vote we can't get. here is general powell getting to that point of voter suppression which was organized in like three dozen states by the republican party to stop blacks from being able to vote the way they normally vote. let's listen. >> i think what the republican party needs to do now is take a very hard look at itself and understand that the country has changed.

the country is changing demographically, and if the republican party does not change along with that demographic, they're going to be in trouble, and so when we see that in one more generation the minorities of america, african-americans, hispanic-americans, and asian-americans, will be the majority of the country, you can't go around saying we don't want to have a solid immigration policy. we're going to dismiss the 47%. we are going to make it hard for these minorities to vote as they did in the last election. what did this produce? the court struck most of that down. most importantly, it caused people to turn out and stand in line because these republicans were trying to keep us from voting. >> gene, the leaders is what he talked about. he wants the leaders to lead the party. you think about speaker boehner, when he publicly says i can't corral, i can't stop the birthers from talking the way they talk, that's just their

opinion. and you hear people like john sununu, who i thought was a heavyweight republican for years, using terms -- why doesn't the president learn how to be an american? it's not just the one line, it's lots of lines. >> you're absolutely right because the leadership of the republican party as most people see it is the leadership in congress. it's john boehner and mitch mcconnell -- >> and priebus. >> and reince priebus, and if those people aren't realizing the demographic realities, aren't realizing that the party has to be a big tent party if it's ever going to win national elections again, then where goeth the gop? >> let me tell you -- you're laughing -- the weird thing is you're turning off black votes if people vote, but you're also turning out the electorate, alex. the giddy part of this is, as you once said a long time ago, frank rizzo in philly, who wasn't too popular among african-americans, was the greatest voter register in my city's history.

they were not going to be talked into not voting. they showed up. here is general powell saying it caused people to turn out and stand in line because these republicans were trying to keep us from voting. it had an adverse affect on their attempt to shut down the vote. alex. >> i'm sorry. i thought you were going to play the clip. it's not just bad for republicans, it's great for democrats, but at the end of the day, chris, i mean, maybe i'm too romantic about this, but i really do believe in the importance of a two-party system, and when -- the root of this, we know this, it's gerrymandering, redistricting, it's because they don't have to play ball, and you now have a republican party that is basically held hostage by a small minority that really only cares about getting primaried and about their own districts. when they are no longer putting the party as a number one priority, when that is no longer a consideration, to say nothing of the actual country, i mean, then you have a real crisis. and i have long maintained

inviting the tea party in, inviting in what is increasingly a radical faction of conservatives to the tent of the republican party, i don't know how you reconcile that at the end of the day. there has got to be a schism at some point. >> here is general powell saying the party has to fix itself before it worries about putting up an electable candidate. he says don't think about candidates, think about message. here he is. >> everybody wants to talk about who is going to be the candidate? you better think first about what's the party you're actually going to represent? if it's just going to represent the far right wing of the political spectrum, i think the party is in difficulty. i'm a moderate. i'm still a republican. that's how i was raised, and until i voted for mr. obama twice, i voted for seven straight republican presidents. >> that's absolutely right. if the republican party is going to be a fringe party, then it marginalizes itself and becomes

less relevant to the discourse. only obstructionist is what the party is seeking -- >> what is their plan? >> i don't know, but it's a shame. as someone who believes in progressive ideas, i realize that not having a smart, engaged conservative party, republican party, makes progressives lazy, frankly, and unimaginative, and it's bad for the country. bad for the country -- >> i think i spent a good -- i admitted something last week. don't we all like to go into the booth knowing we have an option play? if the democrats have been blowing it, we give the republicans a shot or the other way around. you can actually choose. here is general powell you thought i would be playing. here he is talking about the republican's image problem. you respond to this, alex. let's listen. >> the party has gathered unto itself a reputation that it is a party of the rich, it is the party of lower taxes, but there are a lot of people who are lower down the food chain, the economic chain, who are also paying lots of taxes relative to their income, and they need help. we need more education work being done in this country. we need a solid immigration policy. we have to look at climate

change. there are a lot of things that the american people are expecting, and the republican party, as they get ready for the next election, really has to focus on some of these issues and not ignore them. >> chris, what's sad to me about that is that by virtue of mentioning the phrase climate change, it's almost like colin powell has kicked himself out of the republican party. this party used to play ball on that issue. now they're denying the actual science behind it. they have swung so far right, and my question after all of this, after that interview which was incendiary and was very much a line in the sand for the gop -- >> it's history making. >> -- when will the republican party admit they have a problem? because every time something like this happens, there is a doubling down, there is a defense, there is an attack on the messenger. there is a problem here. the party is in crisis, and someone has got to bring it together. >> it's one of those magic moments when martin luther king

was jailed back in '60 and kennedy made the call to mrs. king and nixon said i'm not going to do it, and jackie robinson left the trade saying this guy doesn't get it. >> this is a moment that we're going to remember, i think, and the republican party really should pay attention. it really should. >> we're making the noise here. we're trying to shake them up. thank you, gene robinson and alex wagner. president obama warns republicans they won't get ransom for agreeing not to crash the economy. he's talking tough ahead of the next big fight with congress over the debt ceiling. the president said vice president biden has presented him with a list of common sense steps to prevent gun violence. but the biggest question is how much of it the administration can actually get passed through the congress. and watching last night's golden globes, one thing was clear to me, america once again feels good about itself. we've got a new sense of optimism, and the movies show it. the latest attack on science by a republican member of the house science committee. what a strange name for that crowd. that's in the "sideshow" tonight. and this is "hardball," the place for politics.

one week away from president obama's second inaugural, and all this week we're going to be looking back at great inaugural moments from the past. back in 1993 the 46-year-old bill clinton took the oath of

office for the first time. he became the first baby boomer in the white house and told the country that change is not something to fear. >> when our founders boldly declared america's independence to the world and our purposes to the almighty, they knew that america to endure would have to change. not change for change's sake, but change to preserve america's ideals, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless. each generation of americans must define what it means to be an american. >> well, bill clinton, who had a history of being long-winded, went on to deliver what aides said was the third shortest inaugural address in american history. we'll be right back. how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet.

step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

welcome back to "hardball." in his final press conference of his first presidential term, president obama went on offense warning republicans not to play politics with the debt ceiling. here is some of what he had to say. >> raising the debt ceiling does not authorize more spending. it simply allows the country to pay for spending that congress has already committed to. if congressional republicans refuse to pay america's bills on time, social security checks and veterans' benefits will be delayed. we might not be able to pay our troops or honor our contracts with small business owners. markets could go haywire, interest rates would spike for anybody who borrows money, every homeowner with a mortgage. it would be a self-inflicted wound on the economy. so to even entertain the idea of this happening, of the united states of america not paying its bills, is irresponsible. it's absurd. >> well, the president has got to get past the debt ceiling in order to achieve his second term agenda, but how does he do it

when some republicans are threatening shutdown? chuck todd and howard fineman. chuck, you know, i get the sense i was listening to the late general schwarzkopf, the man shaping the battlefield. he's basically saying if this government gets shut down and we're not paying our bills, it's a decision by the republican-led house of representatives. he wants the story played that way. will the press or can it objectively say that if the government shuts down, it's the republicans, simply their doing? >> when it comes to the debt ceiling if we -- there's two separate questions here. one -- and there's two separate ideas of is there something to negotiate. one is debt ceiling, and what the president is saying there's no discussion on that. on the government shutdown, there seems to be a different tone from the president. i'll get to that in a minute, but on debt ceiling, you're absolutely right. when you take that sentence, what he was trying to say, because he's not talking about having plan "b"s in his back

pocket, things like minting coins, 14th amendment, which senate democrats are begging him to do. he's saying, no, if we default, he wants to make it clear then republicans will have decided not to send out social security checks, not to pay our military, not to do these things, so you're right -- he's hoping that the political blame -- now, the irony here, chris, is senior republican leaders, they agree with the president on that. they know that that's a politically bad place for them to be. the question is it's going to shift to the government funding and shut down going forward, and there talking to aides, they get -- that's up for negotiation. but they want it separated from debt ceiling. >> let's talk about this debt ceiling thing, howard. do you think the press objectively can report the way the president tried to sell it, which is if this government can't pay its debts, refuses to pay it because of the debt ceiling, is that the republican decision or is it going to be played, conflict in washington,

gridlock, both parties to blame? >> well, the president said in the press conference i think people will blame all of washington, but he didn't mean it. and he doesn't believe it. he thinks, and i think rightly thinks, that the political onus will be on the republicans. the president said we aren't a deadbeat nation, which is one of many great quotes in that press conference. >> i like that word, deadbeat. >> we aren't a deadbeat nation, and he said the republicans will turn us into a deadbeat nation if they do what they're threatening -- >> if somebody else objects to the question, if there's a different answer, i'll accept it. did the democrats ever play the game of not paying the bills of the united states government as a tactic? >> the democrats, including the president when he was a senator, voted against raising the debt ceiling -- >> not enough -- >> some democrats. but not to this extent and not in a party-wide thing. this is important for the president for a couple reasons. one of them is his second term

agenda which we're looking at the challenges of in a "huffington post" series called "the road forward." if he wants to go forward, if he wants to complete the job on health care and on bank regulation and on immigration and on a whole host of things, he's got to beat the republicans politically. he's got to beat them on spending, and he's got to back them into a corner politically. he's got a chance to be more consequential in a second term -- this is usual -- >> what's his one, two, three agenda. >> gun control, immigration reform, and number one is what chuck was grilling him on today, which is his strategy on beating the republicans on debt and spending. >> fiscal victory -- >> then immigration and gun control. >> is that how you see it one, two, three, chuck? >> he can't do anything until the budget showdowns are over. >> right. >> and they can't be piecemeal. you're not going to get immigration, not going to get guns. i question whether guns ultimately is going to get done right now. the president himself seems to

believe if public opinion is not with him to get it done, then he's not going to be able to do that with congress going all the way. i think that's the second question. i think the most consequential issue he has to deal with after the budget showdown is simply implementing obama care, implementing his health care plan. >> making it work. >> that's right. that is going to define his legacy -- >> wait a minute. wait a minute, chuck. i think you're right. a lot of obama care is administrative. it is just the grinding details of administrative government. >> building it essentially. >> but the other thing is the republicans are going to try to attack medicaid, chris, and medicare, but medicaid in particular. if they drain and slash funding for medicaid in the regular budget negotiations that chuck is talking about, that will make implementing obama care that much harder because a lot of the money to expand coverage for the uninsured comes from medicaid. >> okay. i think immigration is my biggie for this year. >> that's the legacy thing for

him. >> that's easy to do. >> i think so, too. i have never understood why it's so hard to do immigration. >> but it is now easy to do. now it's easy. that's right. now it's easier. look, deals don't get done in washington unless there is political benefit for both sides. >> right. >> and on immigration republicans know they have to get it done. it will get done. that's the easiest thing on the president's agenda. >> let them put the teeth in it, get the issue off their back where they want it off their back so they can start making -- building constituency among latinos. anyway, i want to get to this hot question of gender. this is the president's problem. he fought back on the recent criticism of being surrounded by men in his inner circle and top cabinet posts. let's listen to his defense. i don't think it was very strong, but here it is. >> if you think about my first four years, the person who probably had the most influence on my foreign policy was a woman. the people who were in charge of moving forward my most important

domestic initiative, health care, were women. the person in charge of our homeland security was a woman. my two appointments to the supreme court were women, and 50% of my white house staff were women. so i think people should expect that that record will be built upon during the next four years. >> well, but listening to andrea mitchell's reporting on this, and i have been following it, and i look at the top four jobs, state, treasury, defense and attorney general and chief of staff. the top five jobs, they're all going to four white guys and one black guy. >> right now we're having three white guys debate this. let's be self-aware here. let's just be self-aware. that's all. >> i can't change myself as quickly as the topics change, but go ahead, chuck, you wise guy. >> the president said today don't judge me, let's see what else i do. that made me wonder if the chief of staff thing is a done deal. >> i thought the same thing, howard. >> chuck will know more than i do. if there's a woman he could bring in for chief of staff, and

i can think of a couple really good ones. >> sure. >> one of them is cecilia munoz, who i am incredibly -- >> would she fit the bill? >> i think she knows how to move the paper and make decisions. >> do you think he has somebody comfort as chief of staff who is not a white male? >> i think he wants to name somebody he's comfortable with, period, and i think when you look at the two people he's considering, they both are people he knows very well. dennis really comfortable with. somebody he spends -- and i think ultimately in your chief of staff, you better be careful if you're playing too much -- worrying too much about your outside politics, you could make a bad pick at chief of staff, and, for instance, the president still feels as if he got talked into bill daley, and that was never the perfect fit on that front. but to go back to this issue of the diversity thing, i think that the white house is being held -- they brought this higher standard on themselves when they smacked around mitt romney on

binders full of women and the issues that they made in their campaign. this bothers them, this line of attack, it bothers the president, but that's why it's coming. they sort of raised the bar, if you will. >> we can always do better here, chuck, in response to your shot at me. we can always do better -- >> no -- >> we can always do better in terms of diversity, but you two guys got second billing. you're in "b" block tonight, not "a" block. >> i'm saying we have to be self-aware, right? >> if you knew how much i do care about this, and we all do. up next, donald trump's latest conspiracy theory about the obama administration. this is "hardball," the place for politics. thank you, howard. back to "hardball." [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up

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back to "hardball." the house science committee strikes again. the latest anti-science move from the republican-led committee comes from georgia congressman paul broun. you might know him best from this. >> i've come to understand all this stuff i was talking about, evolution, embryology, big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. there are a lot of scientific data i found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young earth. i don't believe that the earth is but about 9,000 years old. >> don't know much about biology. broun was one of the republicans who voted against funding for hurricane sandy relief, and he hasn't given up with the next round of funding being put up for a vote later this week. he's proposed amendments to the bill that would remove funding for research of future flooding and oil spill prevention. no surprise broun is not a believer in climate change either. next, on friday i told you about the state lawmakers in wyoming who want to block any

new federal gun law from being enforced. well, now it's texas that's up to it. state representative steve toth is proposing legislation that would make it against the law to enforce federal bans on ammunition or assault weapons in the lone star state, nullification back again. here he is. >> this is a hardened state. it isn't a good place for a criminal to show up and start shooting. we want to make sure that this legislation protects the second amendment gun rights and the tenth amendment, which is state sovereignty rights of texans. >> yahoo. when we start hearing things like state sovereignty, it's like that old pre-civil war talk of nullification. next, former senator jim demint has called obama care, specifically the individual mandate, inconsistent with liberty. demint retired from the senate to head up the heritage foundation, a conservative think tank. the group released this year's index of economic freedom. the top ten have government-run health care. hong kong at number one has a

publicly run system with most hospitals owned by the government. and australia, number three on the list, everyone is eligible for a government-run health care provider. in chile, number seven on the list, everyone has to maintain a health savings account to cover their own costs. and the government helps low-income individuals maintain the funds. after all, the heritage foundation promoted the idea of a mandate, an individual mandate, way back in the 1980s. of course, that was before obama chose to support it, which meant they couldn't support it anymore. finally, guess who sees a secretive side to jack lew, president obama's pick for secretary of the treasury? his signature to be precise. >> you know, i really actually do analyze handwriting. i think you can tell a lot about a person by their handwriting, and his handwriting is not quite as bad as people think. it's extremely secretive. it shows he's a very, very secretive person. unbelievable secretive, and which in itself is interesting. >> donald trump, the new expert

at documentation. anyway, secretive is what you call right wingers who refuse to share who is giving them money. that's the big secret in this country. up next, one month after newtown, vice president joe biden has made his list to help prevent gun violence, but what can the president actually get passed. that's the big one coming up, gun control, gun safety. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

if, in fact, and i believe this is true, everybody across party lines was as deeply moved and saddened as i was by what happened in newtown, then we're going to have to vote based on what we think is best. we're going to have to come up with answers that set politics aside. >> welcome back to "hardball." it's been one month since the horrific tragedy at sandy hook elementary school. today president obama said he has a set of proposals given to him today from vice president biden. in his press conference this morning, the president signaled what may be coming in their recommendations and how they may

go into effect. let's watch. >> what you can count on is that the things that i have said in the past, the belief that we have to have stronger background checks, that we can do a much better job in terms of keeping these magazine clips with high capacity out of hands of folks who shouldn't have them, an assault weapons ban that is meaningful, that those are things i continue to believe make sense. my understanding is the vice president is going to provide a range of steps that we can take to reduce gun violence. some of them will require legislation, some of them i can accomplish through executive action, and so i'll be reviewing those today, and as i said, i'll speak in more detail to what we're going to go ahead and propose later in the week. >> u.s. congresswoman jackie speier of california was among a group of house democrats that met with vice president biden today. she herself is a shooting victim. david corn is washington bureau chief for "mother jones." congresswoman, thank you for

joining us. what can you tell us on the record about what might be in the vice president's package of proposals? >> i think what you heard the president say will certainly be in that package. he also -- vice president biden indicated that there were some 19 areas that he was able to identify that the president could take action on through executive order. he didn't go into detail on what they might be, but suffice it to say there will be some considered that will not require congressional action. the vice president did a great job of meeting with 270 people representing every imaginable interest on this issue, and i think it's the most comprehensive look at guns in probably a generation coming from the white house. >> well, you represent an area of the country out on the coast, just south of san francisco, and more liberal than the rest of the country, but in this big heartland of our country, really in the middle, it's so pro-gun rights. what do you think has the best chance of passing the congress in both houses, republican and

democrat? >> i think a universal background check is absolutely imperative. 40% of the guns that are purchased in this country right now do not go through that background check either because they're at local gun shows or personal sales, private sales. so the fact that even that database we have does not include persons who are on the terror watch list or persons who are fugitives from the law or who are stalkers, i think it's given us all reason to pause to think, what are we doing here? at the very least we have to have a comprehensive background check. >> david, studying in politics in the way you study it, what's the best bet? >> i think it is background checks. i think it has more influence than the high magazines, the high capacity magazines, because it really does keep bad people away from the guns potentially. >> if you can do it because just getting the data available if you want to include people with mental difficulties and criminal checks, i mean, the nra has opposed this time and time

again. they don't want a database because they don't want these background checks. i mean -- >> why are they against them? >> they don't want any limitations on people to buy guns, including people who shouldn't be able to buy guns. i mean, 46%, as the congresswoman just said, can buy guns without having to go through a background check because they go to gun shows, buy online, or buy from the buddy down the street or some guy they met in the bar five minutes ago. and the nra has consistently fought against doing anything about those sort of gun sales. now, i think this is -- >> why don't they sell guns in bars? there's a point where any reasonable person says, no, don't sell guns in bar rooms, tap rooms. >> a big issue that the congresswoman and the vice president and everyone has to take into account, if you look back in '94 when bill clinton got the ban on assault weapons through, he did that as part of a big crime bill with a lot of stuff the conservatives wanted like expanding the death

penalty. if you do it bit by bit or if it's a bill just about gun safety or gun violence prevention, it may be harder to get through. >> let me ask the congresswoman. do you think we can get a government -- something through the congress that doesn't get encased in some big right/center left package which includes some things liberals won't like? >> well, i think anything that does pass is going to have to have something appealing to the right and to the left. and certainly the interests of those who are hunters in terms of making sure that the conservation dollars are there so there's plenty of ducks to be shot at has appeal as well. so i think we've got to make very clear to the american people though, we're not talking about taking guns away from anyone. the second amendment is very clear, the heller supreme court decision made it very clear. we're not talking about those who are hunters and who use it for recreation or those who keep them in their homes for personal safety. we're talking about these guns

that massively destroy people and that are assault weapons for military action. >> well said. do you think we can do it? >> i hope so. i hope -- you know, bill clinton was smart last time. he surrounded himself with tops and public safety advocates and built a big coalition. another type that the congresswoman would want to be part of. you have to keep the pressure on and make it a neighborhood issue with people other than just the people who care about gun control leading the charge. >> thank you so much. my wife started in politics, actually ended in politics working for pete, who has become more liberal than any of us at this table. >> a great friend. >> thank you so much, congresswoman. up next, if you watched last night's golden globe awards, you might have come away with a renewed feeling of optimism. that's ahead. the movies are making us look good. that's "hardball," the place for politics. in 1977 jimmy carter took the oath of office to become the 39th president, and with trust

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and the golden globe goes to "game change." >> thank you, hollywood foreign press so much. i want to thank you for encouraging people to talk more about politics. it's a great year for that obviously in all the films. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was the director of "game change." jay roche pointing out many of the nominees had a common denominator -- they had us talking about politics. he thanked the cia agent on whom the story was based. let's listen. >> really, this award is about tony mendez.

you saw him up here earlier. he is an american hero. he represents the clandestine service as well as the foreign service, making sacrifices on behalf of americans every day. the troops overseas, i want to thank them. >> and the movie "lincoln" of course about the politics of passing the 13th amendment to end slavery in the united states was introduced by president bill clinton who could empathize with the 16th president. let's listen. >> a tough fight to push a bill through a bitterly divided house of representatives. winning it required the president to make a lot of unsavory deals that had nothing to do with the big issue. i wouldn't know anything about that. >> well, golden globes host amy poehler and tina fey had their own reaction to the president's appearance. here you go. >> what an exciting special guest. that was hillary clinton's husband! oh my god. >> that was bill clinton. >> it was. >> it was bill robin clinton. >> wow. many of the movies nominated reflected an american because this movies shows our system may

be messy, but most time it works. marc malkin is eonline senior editor. thank you, gentlemen, for joining us tonight. i love themes. i love award shows. i think the golden globe is always the best because you're allowed to drink, which is always an impressive fact of the evening. and inevitably somebody gives a long winded almost inexplicable speech. this year it was jodie foster. last year it was warren beatty how these other guys like jack nicholson and clint eastwood could keep going so late in life. your thoughts. what was that speech about by jodie foster, ted? >> i do think it was coming out. i think she made it -- >> is that what it was? >> yeah, i think it was coming out. but it was also i think a lot of talk about why she has really guarded her privacy for so long. >> that's an argument we'll have the rest of our lives. privacy versus telling everybody who you are. i'm sort of with the privacy crowd. i like that part of it. look. let me ask you about this political theme. you used to say once you did a

movie about politics or baseball, it died. there was a theory we may spend a lot of time doing those things, but they don't work in the movies. what has changed? you first, ted. >> i think these movies are much better marketed than they used to be. just take a movie "lincoln," which is over 100 million at the box office. the buildup started right after the election when people were really kind of euphoric about what had just occurred. and the dreamworks which did this movie, they got a screening at the white house. they got a screening up at the senate. they got mitch mcconnell and harry reid to co-host a screening. and as you saw right now, they now have bill clinton's endorsement. >> why -- was this part of the hype by spielberg to have clinton there last night? is this part of a marketing campaign to win the oscar? >> listen, i definitely think it's part of the campaign to win the oscar. if you're going to have a lobbyist lobbying for you to win the oscar, who better than bill clinton? this is a guy who could have

come on and introduced "argo," "zero dark thirty," but no, he chose "lincoln." >> let's talk about "argo." it beat out "lincoln" for drama. i loved "argo." i've only been to a couple of movies in my life where people applaud. after all, it's a movie. who are you applauding, the projectionist? you're applauding because you want to applaud. they did it at the end of this movie. it's such a thrilling example of an american with a can-do ability we seem to have lost. the other was "lost horizon," the frank capra movie. that's about nirvana, shangri-la. you can't beat that story. the foreign press, they just jumped on this and chose it over "lincoln." >> i have to say, having ben affleck there helped the hollywood foreign press association. really does ten to favor star-driven projects, if you look back at their history. but i also think that the time has come. we've gone through the period where the academy, the motion picture academy has awarded some pretty hard-hitting pictures, "hurt locker" being an example

which really looked at the iraq war. but i think this is kind of maybe a new kind of patriotism. it's not as jingoistic as maybe "top gun" was. >> it's we can do it too. we're not the big shots, but we can pull this off. that's my sense, the great thing about the escapade, it was the good guys, it with a caper movie, the good guys, not trying to steal a diamond, but get our people home. >> and what i loved about it, you didn't know this story. no one new it. to unearth this story and to tell it. >> i did. >> well, i didn't, sorry. you couldn't write this stuff for the movies, it was so bizarre. >> let me ask you about this, the fun of "zero dark thirty." it's not fun. you talk about, ted, about a dark movie, i haven't seen it yet. i actually loved most of the movies i've seen this year. why are movies getting so darn good again? i mean movies like -- well, that gray one i just saw, what's it called? "silver lining playbook", that's an amazing movie. >> this was a really great year for the movies. last week we were talking about

some of the oscar snubs, people who didn't get nominated in certain categories like kathryn bigelow for "zero dark thirty." you can analyze that to death, but it may come to the point that there is only five slots available, and there are a lot of really good contenders. i have to say, i think "zero dark thirty" speaks to what has happened in filmmaking today. the bar is higher. in the past, hollywood probably would have waited several years to actually make this movie. instead they're making this movie just a couple months they actually got bin laden. >> who is going to win best picture for the oscar? >> i would still say that "lincoln" is kind of the front-runner. but really, last night kind of threw everything up in the air. >> marc, a second left. who is going to win the best picture for the oscar? >> "lincoln" is the front-runner, but i'm hoping for "zero dark thirty." >> i'm hoping for "silver linings playbook." i love the movie. thank you, ted jackson, thank you marc malkin for being on the show.

we'll be right back. let me finish tonight with this. i see most of the good movies that come out. i can remember only one in which the audience applauded. it was "argo." and who were they applauding? the theater manager? the projectionist? they were applauding an american success story. no dark humors just the fun of seeing an escapade succeeding, a group of americans escaping from captivity in iran. no cynical anti-heroes, just straight arrow heroes. people serve their country and this scared group that desperately needed their help. i'm glad that it one for drama, i'm glad that "les mis" won. one fictional, one joyously as true as yesterday's headlines. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine

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